Team Moose Offroad compete in The Croatia Trophy 2013 [Part 2]

Posted on: May 7, 2013 by megan

Friday 3rd May, Stage 1 of racing:

Today was the first day of timed racing counting towards the overall event, Stage 1. Paul and Tony were set to start 4th off the line from their result in the Prologue. As the comp truck set off to the start the support crew headed off into the woods to spectate and get some good video. Despite having to come back to camp to collect their winch strops, Paul and Tony started as planned.

Both race team and support team struggled with the tulip diagram style roads books, as they take some getting into. As the day went on some of the terrain tested the team with sections that included steep ascents and descents and one section with a 1km long mud run up a swamp-like river bed.

Despite breaking the rear suspension for a second time the guys came in having completed the road book in good time. They got back to camp at 16:00 and as I write this at 20:45 there are still teams not back in from the course.

A lot of teams are working hard to fix damage caused today, our team welded up the rear suspension and prepped the truck for tomorrow by late afternoon. Hopefully our repair will hold together long enough for the replacement parts to arrive from the UK.

The Trophy Day consisted of a team challenge and an individual speed section in an over grown quarry. The team challenge had two trucks drive round a deep flooded pit, while three stayed back. The two groups then passed winch lines (read someone had to swim through the green water in the pit!) to each other and strung up a high line and low line to allow a team member to cross the pit on the winch lines. The speed challenge was a “simple” run against the clock on some very tough terrain.

We arrived in the quarry at about 1pm, in baking sunshine and 30 degree heat. It then took 6 hours to get the teams through in order, Trophy class first then our Adventure class. We’re all hot, tried and dusty having finally arrived back in camp at 7pm. Moose had a good run though and most importantly our suspension repair held up.

Tonight we have the night stage, heading back into the woods as thunderstorms are coming over. We’re all tried but looking forward to taking on the challenge of the woods in darkness.

Croatia Trophy Night Stage:

The night stage started at 10:30pm, with Team Moose starting 7th. The whole team were nervous to be heading out into the forest in total darkness!

Paul and Tony had some early navigation errors, but pushed hard retaking many places on the road. By the time they passed the support team 12km into the stage they were 3rd on the road, having gained about 12 minutes on the leader. One final nav error near the finish cost them 2nd place, dropping them to a still excellent 4th place!

On return the whole team were buzzing with excitement and stayed up watching the in car and support team’s video footage over a few beers! The site of Paul and Tony powering the truck down overgrown forest tracks at 50mph+ in the dark is just incredible.

Today is circuit race day (Stage 3) for the spectators, but we’re just looking forward to getting back into the forest for more long road books!

Oh, and our rear suspension repair held up good, so Paul will be driving hard today…

Stay tuned to find out how the team fair up on Day 4 of The Croatia Trophy 2013!